I WAS surprised to receive e-mails complaining about the "awful" telephone service at Macclesfield Town Hall.

One of the small pleasures in life is chatting to the receptionists who answer the council phone lines.

They are pleasant, helpful and efficient in marked contrast to my bank and other impersonal organisations that employ Daleks to man the phones.

I felt more than a little protective and was about to dash of an indignant response when I decided to call the town hall myself to warn the telephone ladies personally of this unfounded criticism.

After several rings a male voice answered advising me to press button one for benefits.

"Can I just speak to the operator?" I asked.

"Or button two if you want council housing."

"I don't want either I'd just like to speak to the lady who usually answers the phone."

"Or hold for an operator."

"Yes, that's what I want, thank you."

"I'm sorry all our agents are busy..."

"Agents, who said anything about agents?"

Several unsuccessful minutes later I hung up.

There are hundreds of priorities vying for the attention of Macclesfield Borough Council. Waste management, planning irregularities, traffic congestion, schools, hospital closures and what have they done? Exchanged perfectly good receptionists for another frustrating call handling system and in doing so destroyed the only damn thing they ever got right.

I don't know what's happened to the lovely ladies that until recently manned the phones, I hope they found more appreciative employers.

MBC worry me, they really do. They botched up disabled parking by allocating enough spaces for a tank regiment. Made a complete hash of wheelie bin collections and don't even know when to leave a good thing alone.

How could any councillor fail to register the loathing felt by the public for automatic call handling? You'd have to be living on the moon not to know the frustration and alienation such systems generate.

Exterminate! Exterminate!

THE views expressed on this page are those of Vic Barlow and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Express.